Ready to GRADUATE!
Thanks to ACM, I feel ready to graduate. It’s great that they offer cheap summer rent in their apartments. I will continue to live in Logan Square for the summer and I will continue on with my internship at Hinge Studios (a recording studio). Baby steps to becoming an audio producer-engineer. I may or may not go to school for it. Still deciding. I have been lucky to have had the chance to explore my interests here in Chicago, and I am now committed to my career.
follow me on twitter!! @RachaelWogsland
I feel more momentum in life than I’ve ever felt, because I’m doing what I want. I’ve tried to push myself in so many other directions but I’ve now chosen to focus on music.
On another note, here’s a fun random picture from a scavenger hunt we did for class:
It is hopeless for the occasional visitor to try to keep up with Chicago—she outgrows her prophecies faster than she can make them. She is always a novelty; for she is never the Chicago you saw when you passed through the last time.
A Day in Printer’s Row & Bronzeville
A couple of weeks ago, we took a field trip to Printers Row and Bronzeville. We started at the Harold Washington Library where we met up with Chicago cartographer Dennis McClendon (who mapped for the CTA metros!). He gave us a tour of Printer’s Row, telling us the history of various buildings and the history of the area in general. As well as printing house central, it used to be whore-house central. Funny story: the establishments would strategically place a chair in the center of each room, where a lady and her customer would do their business. Next to the chair, however, there would be a small hatch where someone else from below could reach through to steal the man’s wallet. This was quite common.
Dennis also took us to Dearborn Station and his apartment in the South Loop. Dearborn Station was built in the late 1870’s when Chicago needed a station close to the business district.Chicago actually had 6 operating train stations back in the day. Later, however, Amtrack took over and consolidated the rail system, directing all trains to Union Station. Dennis’ apartment was fun to visit, and it had a great view of the South Loop (which is the south part of downtown). He was proud to say that crime is virtually nonexistant in his neighborhood of Dearborn Park. He called himself an “urban pioneer.” He is part of the small group of the first white, middle class residents to move into the area. Dennis views himself as a contributor to the cleaning-up and improvement of the area. They built the community, however, to face inward from the surrounding poorer neighborhoods. While Dennis may see himself as an asset and builder to the community, others see him as someone who has helped maintain/build the class segregation in the area.
From the South Loop, we went to Bronzeville by bus. Bronzeville is 97% African American. To the west is Bridgeport, an Irish neighborhood, and Bronzeville and Bridgeport are separated by the Dan Ryan Expressway. The White Sox US Cellular Field lies in between.
(Here is the White Sox US Cellular Field. The gray wall is the Dan Ryan Expwy, separating Bridgeport from Bronzeville.)
In the 1920’s, Bronzeville was known as the Black Belt. It was the center for business, politics and culture for blacks who had migrated north to Chicago. It was a neighborhood where the wealthy built grand homes and where tourists came to shop. By the late 1900’s however, the Union Stock Yard closed, steel mill jobs shut down, the economy was in decline, and many black businesses folded. By the 1990’s, Bronzeville’s Grand Boulevard was home to the country’s densest public housing (Robert Taylor Homes). Before the Chicago Housing Authority’s (CHA) Plan for Transformation, the projects housed 40% of the community’s population, and the high-rise buildings occupied over 30 blocks.
Undoubtedly the most prominent debate today centers around the CHA’s Plan for Transformation. This includes gentrification and demolition of high-rise housing projects. Natives of Bronzeville feel they have their entire family, community and racial histories to lose. Granted, the declared historical landmarks will be preserved. These include the Ida B. Wells home on King Drive and a statue honoring black World War I soldiers at the end of the Drive, among many others. But to most residents, the threatened or demolished housing projects were their main centers of identity and history.
For me, a big highlight of the trip to Bronzeville was our visit to the Meyer’s Ace Hardware. It used to be a jazz club where greats such as Earl Heinze, Benny Goodman and Louis Armstrong frequently played. It was a jazz mecca of Chicago. The owners of the hardware store still preserve an original mural wall. It’s not a flat wall— it’s shaped like an accordion! Apparently this made the acoustics better because the sound bounced off the wall more easily (something like that).
(Above is a picture of me at Meyer’s Ace Hardware, previously a “jazz mecca.” With the owner, David. Wall mural in the background.)
(Mural of famous people from Bronzeville. Note R. Kelly on the right :) )
I Dream of Falafel :)
Tuesday (3/1/11) we went to I Dream of Falafel restaurant.
(Photo courtesy of Citysearch)
The owner, Imran Kasbati, is Pakistani-Vietnamese. His parents met in Chicago and he went to school (up through high school if I remember correctly) in Pakistan. After going to college (for computer science I believe), he worked in tech support for 6 months but then decided that he didn’t want to sit in a cubicle each day for 8 hours. He then opened Samah hookah lounge near Wrigleyville. Samah is one of the first premier hookah lounges in Chicago. Imran got tired of long hours and having to be present at the business so much, so he sold it and opened I Dream of Falafel. He now has two locations and seems to be thriving. He was incredibly generous, spending time with us to tell us all about his business…he basically shared his life story. It was fascinating. He then gave our entire class lunch on the house, which consisted of whatever we wanted from the menu (I ordered a beef shawarma), falafel, and free drinks. I could not believe how GENEROUS this man was.
I really enjoyed his words of advice: Know your strengths and weaknesses. Do something you’re really really good at. He realized he liked talking and was really good at it. Be true to yourself. Very important.You have to love what you sell. If you don’t love your product, you will come to a roadblock and decide you don’t want to sell anymore.
Advice for a first-time entrepreneur: Don’t over-analyze. People often do that, get scared, and give up. Have faith in yourself and your product.
I really enjoyed the visit. The food was delicious. The restaurant was comfortable and well decorated. And did I mention that the owner was incredibly generous?
The Near North Side [2/25]
On Friday, Feb. 25th, we visited the Near North Side. We went to Whole Foods and learned about the history of the area. This Whole Foods was HUGE! Two stories..people eating lunch everywhere..studying..there was a small bar in the store…tons of delicious-looking organic food… I could have spent all day in there. We met in a cooking class room on the second floor. We learned about Goose Island, which was right across the river. Goose Island is a PMD - Protected Manufacturing District - which became protected by a zoning policy in 1990. From what I understood, no other types of businesses can be located on Goose Island. Most notably, it is home to the Wrigley gum “Innovation Center,” where they apparently do all kinds of tests and studies on Wrigley gum. The Near North Side used to be a manufacturing area, largely for heavy equipment, but it has shifted from industry to housing and retail.
The Near North Side was also the home of the Cabrini-Green housing projects. Now most of them have been demolished under the city’s recent public housing renovation plan. There are only two buildings left standing and they’ll probably be gone by summer. The CG homes lasted 64 years and the demolitions are controversial. The last residents to move out of Cabrini-Green left in December and they had held out for ten years refusing to leave.
The building of C-G began in the early 1930’s, mainly low rise homes for Italian immigrants. Poor African Americans moved in more and more, the city built the massive high rises, and it became inhabited virtually 100% by African Americans. It is probably Chicago’s most notoriously violent, gang-inhabited, deteriorating, poverty-stricken housing project. The iron mesh that the CHA (Chicago Housing Authority) put on the outside walkways going all the way up to the top floors made the complexes look like prisons.
Cabrini Green (Photo courtesy of Up Topics)
C-G is the only public housing development that was not built in a primarily black community. It’s next to the Gold Coast (one of Chicago’s most affluent neighborhoods) and Wicker Park (another nice neighborhood). It also is close to the lake. The city wanted to eliminate the homes so the valuable property underneath them could be developed. C-G’s 15,000 residents had to leave. Where did they go? The city promised to provide low-rise housing and mixed income housing for displaced residents. It hasn’t been great at keeping its promise however. Many residents have sunk into greater poverty and are unaccounted for. The majority of displaced residents have gone to already segregated communities on the south side.. Lots of doubling up on housing.
The homes had a bad reputation, but not everyone wanted to see them go and many people were reluctant to leave. After all, families called it home, it’s where children made their memories, and many people were fond of their communities.
Below is Jodi Shaw’s “In Cabrini Green.” Although she is not from Cabrini Green, or from this country for that matter (she’s from Canada), I think it’s a great song.
The CG area is now prime gentrification land. By summer, there will be high-end condos where the Cabrini homes were.
DoGone Fun! Doggy Daycare
DoGone Fun! Learning from entrepreneurs… [wk of 2/21/11]
TUESDAY 
On Tuesday, our Entrepreneurship Practicum class visited a doggie daycare called DoGone Fun!. (please click link) Beverley, the owner, was friendly and engaging and had stories and advice about being an entrepreneur. She opened 8 years ago, oversees 40 employees, and has over 2000 customers. Her staff knows the dogs by name. Her business is a one-stop shop for dog needs, and every dog gets a report card at the end of the day.
One thing she said that REALLY stuck out to me was: as an entrepreneur, you must choose what you love. The work is too hard not to love what you do. She doesn’t just work 5 days a week, 8 hours a day. She works ALL THE TIME and thinks about her work all the time. One thing she found out going into the business was that it was meant to be. Even though her original business partner fell through, someone else from church stepped forward to help. Although the day to day work is hard, everything for her business fell into place almost too easily.
Trolley Around Chicago! [wk of 2/21/11]
Last Friday, we took a trolley tour around Chicago. I really enjoyed it. This is because I am fascinated with the city.
We began on State St. and toured around Marshall Field, the Iroquois Theater, County Building and City Hall, LaSalle St., Madison Street… An interesting fact: West Madison St. was skid row 30 years ago. It was full of cheap bars, drunk people, and you could stay for 50 cents a night in a hotel of sorts. The rooms were more like cages. (Recommended reading: Knock on Any Door, by Willard Motley.) Today, W. Madison is lined with apartment buildings and offices and looks rather respectable.
We went to the Chicago Stadium, Greektown, and Taylor St., which Mayor Daley is now branding as “Little Italy.” But this is an NYC term, and generally Chicagoans don’t like to be compared to NY or to use NY terms. We learned that in the Nearwest Side, thousands of homes had to be torn down for the highway to be built. We toured through Maxwell Street and Bridgeport. Bridgeport is home to mainly Irish residents. Six Irish Chicago mayors have come from Bridgeport.
Then our tour guide took us to the Union Stock Yards (named not for labor union but for the union of companies that operated it). The Stock Yards closed in 1971, after being in business for over 100 years. Waste from the Yards was drained into the river via canals, contributing to polluted waters. In 1885 the Stock Yards suffered a massive fire. It was the country’s largest loss of life by firefighters until 9/11. Recommended reading: The Jungle, by Upton Sinclare.
Next, our trolley traveled down to the West Side, where the (no longer existing) Robert Taylor housing projects were built for 11,000 people but housed 40,000. Chicago is very segregated.We went to the Regal Theater, where the Savoy Big Five became the Harlem Globetrotters. We drove through Hyde Park where the Obamas have their house, and where Chicago put its 1893 World’s Fair.
We drove north along the lake and arrived back at State Street. It was quite the treat to have a two hour trolley tour on a beautiful Friday morning!!
Me in front of Obama’s house in Hyde Park, complete with a Secret Service vehicle parked on the side and barricades surrounding the house
Chicago has won my HEART! [wk of 2/7/11]
MONDAY
It’s 12:10am and I’m going to bed soon. After I wash the rice cooker, which spilled over to one side because of the slanted floor in our apartment. Tonight we came home to a leaking ceiling in our apartment…. and then our dining room chair fell apart! Today was a long day! I trekked all over Hyde Park with my scavenger hunt group. The faculty split us into groups of approx. 5 students, and we were given the task of visiting different locations in the city and taking pictures of them for proof we’d been there (with ourselves in the pictures). Even after a trying day at times, Chicago has still won my heart. The buildings are majestic, the lights at night are absolutely gorgeous, and the whole thing feels grand. I am very much in my element. The highlight of the scavenger hut was seeing BARACK OBAMA’S house (!!!) (see above!!) and getting to know the other students in the program. Also, the faculty are wonderful and I enjoyed class time. Now I Must. Go. To. Sleep!
~
TUESDAY
Tonight Chicago won my heart. Our fabulous ACM faculty members took the students from all three Chi programs to see Louder Than A Bomb, (please click) a documentary, at the Siskel Theater on State St. The film was about high school poetry slam competitions in the city. Students come from all around the city to compete against each other at different venues. The story was INCREDIBLE, about these kids coming from nothing and being passionate about poetry and performing. But it’s not just any poetry….It’s heart wrenching. It’s their stories, and they aren’t afraid to expose their scars, their pain, their their anger, sadness and happiness, and humor. I fell in LOVE with Chicago all over again!!! Coming home tonight, I felt more comfortable here and more a part of this place. I felt I had a better understanding of the spirit of Chicago. It was brutally COOOOLD waiting for the train to take us home, but I didn’t care. I was so happy and inspired …. and I felt more at home than I have probably ever felt.
